In medieval Irish literature, the heroine of The Fate of the Sons of Usnech , the great love story (written in the 8th or 9th century) of the Ulster cycle .
A Druid foretold at Deirdre's birth that many men would die on her account, and she was raised in seclusion. A woman of great beauty, she rejected the advances of King Conor (see Conchobar ), married Noísi, one of the sons of Usnech, and fled with him to Scotland. Lured back to Ireland, Noísi and his brothers were murdered, and Deirdre killed herself to avoid marrying Conor. In the 20th century the story was dramatized by William Butler Yeats and John Millington Synge .